Autodesk and 49 other app stocks that could go up 1000%

By Cody Willard

I’ve spent the last few months studying the fastest growing market in the history of capitalism — the App Revolution. The App Revolution, in which we’re moving from a PC/browser-based networking world to a smartphone/app-based networking world, has an installed base of a couple hundred million people right now and will hit a billion people using smartphones in the next three to five years.

I realized that I needed a map of which companies are doing what. So I broke down the app ecosystem into eight different categories and started analyzing every single stock that’s got big exposure to the App Revolution right now. And then I assigned each stock a rating on a scale of 1 to 10, just like my old mentor Jim Cramer used to demand I do before I’d go for my annual 1 on 1 pow-wow in which we’d go through every single position in my hedge fund portfolio and kick out the weakest ones.

The resulting 56 page report is now called “Cody Willard’s 50 Stocks for the App Revolution” and it has helped me understand how we should be positioning the part of our Revolution Investing model portfolio that we’ve allocated to the this incredible market place. I’m offering the report to the public for $79 at http://AppRevolutionStocks.com or as an eBook for your Kindle or iPhone at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31192. Or you can sign up for my weekly Revolution Investing newsletter and I’ll send you one section of the report per week and then the whole report when complete your one month trial.

Back in 1994, Autodesk smartly decided to just forget trying to develop software for the Mac. As Intel-Window PCs stormed to 95% plus marketshare in the ensuing decade, Autodesk’s CAD software for architects, engineers, construct, and so on, became a de facto standard too. Since Autodesk came public, the stock’s generated some 5500% returns for shareholders, so they’ve obviously been doing something right.

Fast forward to 2010, and Autodesk is back to offering software for Apple Macs. And the company is developing some fantastic apps that will likely become just as much standards as their current CAD software is.

Another incredible tech company balance sheet, as the company’s ended up with more than a billion in cash and absolutely no debt to speak of. It’s not going to be an easy, straight up, kind of ride, but this is a company well-positioned to benefit from the app revolution. Though it will be a high-beta cyclical, growing and shrinking by a multiple of whatever the GDP is growing or shrinking by, over the next decade, I’d look for this stock to have some big returns for shareholders again.

Revolution Investing rating: 7/10

To get my Revolution Investing analysis and rating for Autodesk, Adobe, F5, Juniper, Finisar, Oracle, Ciena and 43 other app stocks some of which you’ve probably never heard of, you can simply order the report today by visiting http://AppRevolutionStocks.com and I’ll personally email you the report or get it as an eBook for your Kindle or iPhone at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31192.

In the report, I give you some of my trademarked cut-throat Revolution Investing analysis including some history of the company, how it’s trying to position itself for the app revolution and how much I like or dislike the investment prospects for that company.

And for those of you who really just want a short hand rating system, don’t worry. I put a Revolution Investing rating from 1 to 10 on each stock.

I. App platforms/software: (8 stocks)

II. App gadget vendors: (7 stocks)

III. App component suppliers: (12 stocks)

IV. App network infrastructure: (6 stocks)

V. App Infrastructure Component Suppliers: (3 stocks)

VI. App equipment contractors: (5 stocks)

VII. App network providers: (6 stocks)

VIII. App retailers: (3 stocks)

Get ‘em before they’re hot, dear readers. Here’s what one subscriber wrote me last week:

You can tell people that I bought AAPL, FFIV, and GOOG back several years ago when you recommended them in your newsletter. Also, that GOOG Call option and recently scaling into RVBD have been very profitable for me. Your newsletters have been the best investment I’ve made!

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About The Cody Word

Cody Willard writes the Revolution Investing investment newsletter for MarketWatch and posts the trades from his personal account at TradingWithCody.com He is the founder of WallStreetAll-Stars.com and the principal of CL Willard Capital. Cody serves as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and is on the University of New Mexico Alumni Board. He was an anchor on the Fox Business Network, where he was the co-host of the long-time #1-rated show on the network, Fox Business Happy Hour. Cody, a former hedge fund manager, and his stock picks and economic outlooks have been featured on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ABC’s 20/20, CBS Evening News, CNBC’s SquawkBox, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, as well as in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many other outlets.